as i sit here with my eyes burning from too much visine, a threatening itch in my crappy right ear, a wheeze in my chest and a nose very sore from too much tissue, i very much miss the me who was, not exactly healthy, but devoid of these mundane irritations for so many years. my childhood was full of minor sickness and recurring croup (most vile affliction to ever be infested with, btw), but there were no sore throats, no earaches, no head colds, no allergies, no breathing trouble, no eye problems. in a world where every other kid you encounter seems to have had tubes stuck in their ears as a baby, five different life-threatening allergies and neither tonsils nor adenoids (what the hell are those?), this might strike some as odd, but i breezed through about twenty years without any of this shit attacking me.
in hindsight, there were signs of an ear problem late in elementary school, and i did use my gymn injuries to excuse myself from much of the running-type games we did in gym class because i could never seem to breathe properly and always ended up with a cramp. but never would i have guessed that as an adult i would have to deal with the shit i have saddling me now - ear infections, sinus infections, constant sniffles, allergies, asthma, itchy eyeballs. it does not add up.
so after the blood work that left me bruised like a heroin addict, my doctor has found that some kind of blood cell (i didn't know there were so many different kinds) is extremely elevated. i can't recall the name, but it starts with an 'eo' and apparantly is often related to very bad allergies or asthma. so she has cancelled my pulmonary function test at the hospital and set me up to see an allergist instead (who will do the pft anyway, but will also give me the goddamn allergy test i asked her to do in the first place so that i can know, once and for all, the status of my insect sting allergy, among other things).
i have an allergist. what the fuck?
i stopped by the optometrist's today to see about replacing the magnetic sunglasses that i have absolutely lost this time ($70, thank you) and decided to face the music and book my appointment. apparantly, i have not been to the optometrist in four years. i will be properly scolded when she sees me, and she will probably send my ass back to the specialist where they do that horrible dye test that makes me feel very, very bad.
i would just like to publicly state what assholes the ontario government is for not covering eye exams. i think eye exams and basic dental visits (which were, of course, never included) should be paid for the same as any doctor's appointment. it's sort of ridiculous that the government feels we're entitled to a healthy body, but is ambivalent about our sight and our teeth.
it is going to cost me $80 for my regular eye exam. because of the scar tissue in my eye, i also have to have a visual field test, which costs another forty. should there be any change in either the tissue or my field of vision that requries me to go back to the specialist and have the bad bad dye test (not to mention the part where he practically climbs inside my eyeball, which freaks me the fuck out), well, who knows how much that goes for.
all in all, a minimum of two hundred bucks to the eye doctor next month. i'm standing here with a choice between my eyesight and my rent. thanks, ohip.